Category: Future Lighting

Looking ahead to the future of lighting design.

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“less or else” is becoming a bore

Brad Koerner

Editor’s Note:  You may have noticed that I haven’t posted anything in the past month.  This is because I took an exciting new job and my family and I moved across country.  Needless to say, I’ve had zero time for blogging. My new position is Senior Marketing Manager – LED Systems at Micron Technologies.  Never heard of Micron?  Don’t worry…if you are in the lighting industry, I’m sure you will in the next year.  Micron is a huge manufacturer of memory chips and other semiconductor products, and is launching a new line of LED products. But more on that later.  For … Continue reading “less or else” is becoming a bore

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acuity brands: OLED group in the works

Brad Koerner

Sometimes, the best way to figure out what a company is really doing is to monitor their job postings.

As further proof that OLED’s are finally nearing some form of commercial use, Coroflot has an interesting job posting for an industrial designer at Acuity Lighting:  Senior Product Designer – OLED Product Design Center.

In case the link doesn’t stay put, following is the job description:

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philips lumiblade

Brad Koerner

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Lumiblade is Philips first major foray into commercial OLED products.

In short, Philips is really just selling sample kits right now for design explorations.  The samples are expensive, not very efficient (20 lm/w), and with only 10,000 hours at 50% dimmed output, the lifetime isn’t that great.

However, it is promising to see a technology that has been in development for over a decade finally, even if just tentatively, reach some level of commercial potential.

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thin-film light sources

Brad Koerner

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Thin-film light sources have been around for awhile, despite how futuristic they seem to be.  Their adoption has been relatively slow for two reasons:  First, they have fairly limited light ouput, which restricts them to mostly decorative applications.  Second, they are more difficult to implement in architectural designs, usually requiring a lot of custom design.  Not that that are difficult to use…they are just not as simple-minded and quick as copying yet another downlight symbol on a reflected ceiling plan.  Lifetime varies, depending on how bright they are driven, which is another consideration.

Yet still, the opportunity for creative new explorations of lighting is obvious, such as our previous post on a concept for light emitting wallpaper.

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blade runner for real: kumho asiana headquarters

Brad Koerner

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1982’s Blade Runner vividly depicted a dystopian future for Los Angeles 2019.  Back in 1982, massive multi-story video screens on the sides of buildings were extremely far-fetched sci-fi, something only the film industry could visualize.

Well, the future has arrived right on time.  Skyscraper-sized video screens are now available, even common.  Sorry, no flying cars or humanoid replicants just yet…but hey, there are still ten years to go until 2019.

The Kumho Asiana Group Headquarters in Seoul, South Korea opened in 2008 with a massive 15m x 94m low-res exterior video screen using Element Labs Versa Ray.  What struck me was how close the above image resembled the famous shot from the movie.

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corian: not just your countertop anymore

Brad Koerner

low_17_Corian_Nouvel_Lumieres_Photo_LeoTorri

Dupont, with their Corian line, has seemingly done more in the past few years to promote creative new approaches to lighting than any of the major lighting conglomerates.

Corian has a few major advantages:  Its malleability allows it to be formed in a myriad of shapes and continuous surfaces; its durability and repairability allow it to be used a primary finished surface; and its translucency allows designers to integrate lighting features seamlessly into surfaces.

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gkd metal fabrics: media mesh

Brad Koerner

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GKD Metal Fabrics is a supplier of interwoven metal meshes for large-scale architectural use.

GKD Mediamesh, a metal fabric product with integral LED video system, is an excellent example of the integration of green design + digital media in architecture.  The walls can be used as architectural sun screens, cutting down on the solar heat load entering a building, while simultaneously retaining the views from inside the building and acting as a video screen from the outside.

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sci-fi no more: 3d printing suppliers

Brad Koerner

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Let’s say you want to create your own light fixture.  If you can model in 3D, then having rapid prototypes machined or printed has become incredibly easy and relatively cheap to do.  It opens up an entire new world of possibilities for designers, especially those of installation art or projects that are “pushing the edge of the envelope.”

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snog london

Brad Koerner

Snog is a small chain in the UK, riding the wave of “unsweetened” frozen yogurt shops.  The difference is in their store design.  Their latest store, Snog Soho, includes a fantastic ceiling composed of 700 color-changing glass pendants, backed up with some incandescent lighting. Cinimod Studio was the UK-based lighting designer, and details on the custom lighting tech can be found at e-luminate. Continue reading snog london

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the ultimate desklamp

Brad Koerner

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Now this is what I call “intelligent lighting”:   The Personal Robots group at the MIT Media Lab has developed the prototype AUR: a Robotic Desk Lamp.  With full motion robotic arm, color changing light source and mechanical iris as a winking/blinking “eye”, this has to be the most, umm, expressive desk lamp since Pixar’s Luxo Jr.

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